Thursday, November 06, 2008

 

More kitchen. Sri Lanka. Alum Bay.

The kitchen doesn't look much further forward this evening, but work has been going on all day. Our man has been doing lots of fiddly finishing off edges jobs.
The main problem has been a delay on the second long work surface - he managed to break it on Tuesday and we waited until this afternoon for the replacement.
He said this was the first he had ruined after many years of fitting kitchens.
The washing machine is plumbed in now.
The oven is working, but the hob is not because that must wait until the work surface is in place.
I am impatient for completion - the work being done for us will finish tomorrow I think. Then we have to find homes for everything and then Bill has to do the flooring and papering.

We may have hit a problem - we might have chosen unwisely with the sink and drainer. The sink is fine - bigger than before. But the draining area is smaller and we can't find a new dish drainer to fit it.
I suppose these days people don't have piles of washing up because they have machines to do the job.
There may be a delay before we solve that little problem.

We have been out shopping today. Hey - a new kitchen has turned me into a shopper - temporarily. We have even shopped in The Mall today.
I have new drying cloths and oven glove - suddenly matching seems to be important!
Bill bought a cafetiere.
We bought a cream plastic dish drainer - but that will go back tomorrow.

And we ate in town - and my, how we did eat!
The Sri Lankan restaurant does a lunch time buffet - eat as much as you want, even get second helpings for £5.
The choice was a bit limited but each dish on offer was wonderful. Our plates were overflowing.
There was a starter with delicious sweet mild chilli sauce, 2 sorts of rice, 2 sorts of curry, lentil dhal and a big tray of poppadoms.
At other times we could have chosen from the menu instead - but not today. Chef was busy cooking for 600 at a post Divali celebration.
But the buffet is such a bargain it will be tried again and again.
Get yourself ready Ashley! Just don't have many poppadoms - they fill too much of the plate!
The people were friendly and there were many happy diners and the decor was just right with a pleasant oriental atmosphere.

Ans now back to another great atmosphere,

We were so lucky with the weather when we were at Alum Bay. It wasn't super warm, but the bright blue autumn skies set the cliffs off beautifully.


This picture of the bay was taken from the path to The Needles when we first arrived.
And now for the colourful cliffs and the bright blue sky.





Were we in some sun kissed desert? Or was it the lush green Isle of Wight?

Now for a few pictures which include us.

You can see that I needed my hood up in the morning as we walked to The Needles headland. It really was quite chilly.
I was looking forward to exploring Alum Bay below.






I have always loved rocks - even these crumbly sands have a sort of strength and permanence about them that make them more enduring and powerful than man.




Pictures of The Needles from the beach.
And how did we get down to the beach?
Well we could have walked down the steps; it wouldn't have taken long.
But I fancied something exciting and we went down in the chair lift.
It was great!








Alum Bay had always been somewhere I craved to go. In childhood I knew that other children had those little glass ornaments filled with layers of different coloured sands. I thought everybody but me had one!
Well, now I have one.
You can't take sand from the cliff, but there are supplies in the shop at the top of the cliff.
You can fill your own shaped glass or buy one ready done.
I opted for a globe already filled - with zig zag stripes, more intricate than I would have done in the time.

More kitchen. Sri Lanka. Alum Bay.
posted by Grandma P on Thursday, November 06, 2008